This site is about my own coming to grips with gender identity, things that interest me, and plots of cetaceans such as porpoises to take over the world.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Well, I've been a little busy lately. I'm still debating whether or not to quit my day job, since quitting means I have to pay Medicare and Social Security taxes, on the other hand, it means I do not have to pay the ridiculously stupid occupational privilege tax that some past Pennsylvania politician thought was a good idea. (Really paying for the privilege to work in a certain town? It's a stupid idea but if you move to another town in Pennsylvania you are not immune since all PA towns have it.)

More or less this blog entry is to assure people I am not dead. I am still alive and well as it were and have settled down to my writing project a little more seriously. I may be less available for blog posts, but you can still reach me via e-mail if what you need to say is that important.

Oh and to the one person who left the comment thinking I really was going to dedicate my blog exclusively to anti-Mormonism (and I don't mean our beloved Molly, who we will convert to our wicked ways yet), I have no intention of doing so.

6 Comments:

Hi Lala, This is Che from Venusenvy. I've been getting interested in seventeenth century English religious history recently.

I had some nice young men from the LSD church come and tell me about Mormonism a few months ago - this was before I transitioned. They were very hurt that I wouldn't go to church with them and I eventually had to tell them that my sexuality wasn't compatible with their teachings.

Anyhow based on Mormon theology it seemed to me that Mormon theology has fairly strong links with the puritan/New Jerusalem type movements of the 1600 and 1700s. Particularly in that it seems to emphasize the relationship between the individual and -his- God - unmediated by priest, bishop or saint.

In this I see similarities to Quakerism, ferinstance.

Of course Mormon theology occured long before these other sects were even thought of... ;)

Sometimes it seems to me that modern fundamentalist sects - particularly American ones - emphasize participation in the community of Christ and the community of worship to an overwhelming degree. Worship in these churches almost seems like a community performance - and coming from a dour scots calvanist background - on one side - it makes me wonder if the soul of an individual -can- be saved by -community- repentance and -community- worship?

Contrast Mormonism where everything seems to be enclosed in neat boxes. God must be in the centre in the heart of the individual, who then rules his family who are the next box, and the community is all of these Mormon families.

My question to you is this: Am I making any sense here? What's the nature of the Mormon relationship with God? How do Mormons see the family and the community?

First off, only those who know my EZboard alias will call me 'Lara'. (Note that it's an 'r' there.)

LSD church? That'd be an interesting proposition, but probably illegal.

You're slightly off about the relationship between the person and god though. Men do not need an intermediary to invoke god on their behalf, women do as women do not get to hold the priesthood and thus cannot do things like bless their child, pass the sacrament, etc.

I believe you are right on some of its roots as they were known to be in books at the library in Palmyra when Joseph Smith was formulating the religion.

Mormon theology and doctrine is fascinating, but there's a quote about it that applies especially when you're trying to track the changes to it over the years: Trying to pin down Mormon doctrine is like nailing jello to the wall.

There are many good sources on the Internet, but it's hard to find unbiased discussions of the belief system saying simply 'this is what it is.'

It would be kinda interesting to discuss the difference in the relationship between men and God and women and God in christian (and other faiths "of the book") generally. Women have a different kind of relationship with other people than men do, so ain't it reasonable to think they might have a different kind of relationship to God?

Do little boys and little girls have -exactly- the same type of relationship with their father, ferinstance?

Personally I think God might still be in the middle of a ten thousand year snit with women over that whole Adam and Eve and the fruit and the serpent thing. Maybe that's why we can't hold the priesthood - God is giving us the silent treatment.

Someone answered this earlier on this blog. A Mormon occasionally checks in here from time to time and I asked that once. If it was sealed in the spirit, it doesn't matter what the church's official policy is, since the person still holds it. It can't be taken away after all if I understand it correctly. Admittedly, we believe it's fiction, but that's not what matters according to the beliefs.

And no, but I *do* have a newer desktop system -- always kept the old Dell until I could replace it. The laptop is old and sounds like it needs a new operating system of a new hard drive.

I find my knowledge is somewhat slipping now, or perhaps I've never had it. I never really had occasion to consider that particular question, but that's one more towards religion and your relationship with the divine in general rather than a question of how the Mormon church treats its male and female members.